


Time and Memories

by unknown_error



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M, Not sure how this is going to turn out yet but I'm excited, So will characters, tags will be added as time goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 20:05:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknown_error/pseuds/unknown_error
Summary: Updates on saturdays! Goes over my interpretation of Link in Breath of the Wild, even though there are far too many botw fanfics already. Something no one asked for, but I'm giving to everyone anyway.





	1. Prologue

His head was pounding. Something wasn’t right.

 

He gasped as a blade plunged through him, the loss of air stopping a scream. As the blade withdrew, his organs spilled to the floor, and he slipped out of consciousness, falling to the floor on top of his entrails.

* * *

Link woke covered in sweat, and threw his hands on his stomach to hold his organs from spilling from the wound he was sure was there. He felt, but there was nothing, and he released a breath.

_It was just a dream_ , he thought as he sat up, stretching and regaining his composure. He hated sleep after waking from the Shrine of Resurrection, it was either a nightmare or nothing at all. He looked over to his left to find Zelda fast asleep on a bedroll.

_That’s right, we’re in the castle. The Calamity fell two days ago_. He looked at her peaceful face, studying what may have changed from his memories. However, it seemed that 100 years hadn’t changed the princess, at least on the outside.

He looked away and reached over to the Master Sword, the blade of evil’s bane, his faithful companion. After standing, he ducked out of the ruined room for a moment and changed into his usual day wear, strapping the sword to his back.

After making sure that he was as presentable as he could be, he re-entered to find that the princess was still fast asleep. He smiled as he walked over to the cooking pot and began their breakfast. After about a year of travel throughout Hyrule, his pack had a fairly good amount of resources and ingredients.

As he finished cooking their omelets, he heard a rustling and a yawn as the princess woke up.

“Good morning,” she muttered groggily as she moved to the pot where he was situated. “What’s for breakfast today?”

He simply replied, “omelets,” and handed her a plate with one on it. She nodded her thanks and sat down in the silence, beginning to eat. In the time that she finished the one that he had given her, he managed to wolf down three, patting his stomach after.

“Good to see that you still have your appetite,” she motioned to him as he licked his fingers.

“I think that I’ve earned it,” she laughed at this reply, as it was unlike Link to be sarcastic even in the slightest. After he washed up their dishes, they decided to go search through the rest of the castle ruins.

“Can we go to my room first? I’m interested to see if I can find a change of clothes,” she motioned at the old, stained white prayer dress that she still wore. He simply nodded and helped to guide her through the rubble that was Hyrule Castle.

* * *

“Well… this… is disappointing, to say the least.” Zelda was wandering through the remnants of what had been her bedroom 100 years prior. “And it seems that my diary is gone, too…” she muttered as she gave a quick once-over of her desk. She looked fairly disappointed as she searched through her old wardrobes. “Did you find anything, Link?”

“No, did you?” Link had dug through piles of what had been the roof only to come across tattered dresses in worse shape than what she was wearing.

“Hardly. Only torn pieces of old dresses.” She sighed as she threw a stained piece of blue cloth to the ground. “I was hoping to find my travel gear, or at least something slightly more suitable.”

“Maybe Impa has something. Or one of the shops will,” Link commented quietly as he turned to look at her.

Her expression lit up and she exclaimed, “Impa! That’s right, she had my travel clothes!” She smiled widely, and even in their present situation, Link felt his heart flutter, if only for a second. “Link, let’s go to Kakariko.”

He only nodded as she turned to leave, giving a quick glance over the ruins that had been her bedroom.

“That’s a shame about my diary, though… A few of the other books seem to have survived, but it was just gone entirely.” Link’s face flushed slightly, and he was glad that she wasn’t looking at him.

They left her room, and Link guided her through what remained of the castle. It seemed that the malice had been supporting a few areas, and that its disappearance along with the disturbance of Calamity Ganon’s reappearance had blocked off a few of the passageways.

“Is the great hall still accessible?” Zelda questioned and turned to face him as they walked, but found only a quizzical expression. She sighed and turned to face back forward, and Link felt awful for not even remembering what had been in the castle before. As they walked up to the Sanctum to see what was left after the cave-in, she didn’t turn to face him and no words escaped her lips.

Finally, when they reached the Sanctum, she sighed loudly and looked down, which made Link decide that he needed to say something.

“Did I… do something to offend you, princess?” She stopped in her tracks and he noted the slight flush of her ears, before she spun around to face him.

“O-of course not! How could you have offended me? I merely am just having trouble taking in the castle’s… destruction…” she trailed off, turning her gaze down to look at the floor.

He crossed the distance over to her and tipped her chin up, wrapping her in a hug. She seemed taken aback for a moment, but then completely buried herself in him, sobbing into his chest. They stood like that for a while, with her crying and him holding her in his arms, standing next to the gaping hole in the center of the Sanctum.

After a while, when she seemed to be only sniffling, he decided to ask, “Is this… okay?” She looked up at him and her eyes seemed to burn into his soul, even with their redness from her tears.

After a while, she finally whispered, “Yes,” before burying herself back into him. “And… call me Zelda. I’m not a princess anymore…” it seemed like she was going to cry again, so he took his left hand away from her back and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, bringing her attention back to him.

“Pri-Zelda, you’re still a princess. Maybe not of this kingdom anymore, but you’ll always be the princess to me.” He breathed, his voice just above a whisper.

She smiled at him, just a little, and they hugged just a little bit tighter.

In that moment, they were no longer the princess with the blood of the goddess and the chosen hero of legend. They were merely Zelda and Link, bound by time, memories, and a love still struggling to resurface.


	2. The Chosen Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, we begin!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I know that this is a little bit early, but due to reasons unspecified I had to post this now instead of tomorrow. Also, I am fully aware that I started Post-Calamity and now am writing Pre-Calamity. This is supposed to build up to that point more than anything, and explain the events that occurred leading to it, barring the game itself.

There was fear. Deep inside of his heart, his being, his consciousness. However, it no longer mattered. All that mattered was succeeding.

* * *

Link stretched as he blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the light of his room. He sat up in his bed and yawned, looking around before he finally shook off the light blanket that he’d been under and stood.

He stretched and proceeded to shuffle absentmindedly to the kitchen, only to find two plates of lukewarm food and a note folded up between them. He unfolded it and read, “Link, Aryll, I’m going on a routine surveillance route to assure that everything will be well for King Rhoam’s passage to the Akkala citadel. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Link sighed and gobbled up the food on his plate. Ever since his mother had left for Tabantha when he was 7, his father had been gone more defending the King and had grown more distant from him and his sister.

Aryll had yet to wake up yet, even though it was nearly ten when he finally got up from the table. He cleaned up his plate and stowed it in a cupboard before grabbing his wooden training sword and heading outside. He was already 9, but his father had insisted that he had to have mastered the trainer before he would give him a proper broadsword. Though Link already handled it nearly as well as his father handed his Royal Guard’s sword, his father hadn’t decided that he was skilled enough yet.

He went outside and did a few practice drills, working on the speed and fluidity of his movements. He spun the trainer and sidestepped, coming in with a speed greater than his fathers and slashing at the dummy 7 times before stepping back and observing the damage. Even without a real blade, the dummy had smashed sides and a few cut marks from the amount of times that he had practiced with it.

After practicing and running through a few more drills, he packed up and went inside, only to find Aryll’s food still untouched.

Slightly worried, he walked into her room, only to find that she was still fast asleep. He quietly closed her door and grabbed a fresh set of clothes from his room, heading to the bathhouse behind their home.

After a quick bath and a change of clothes, he went back to the house feeling pretty refreshed. When he entered, he found Aryll sitting at the table, picking at her food and staring at the note still open on the table. She was only 7, and had been 5 when their mother had left.

She looked up at him and quietly asked, “Is Dad out again?”

He shrugged, replying, “yeah,” and sat down next to her. She sighed quietly, finishing her food just about as fast as she could. She cleaned her dish and moved over to the common area, where she laid down with one of the few books that they had and began reading.

They were both mature beyond their years, and didn’t spend very much time with the other children in the village, preferring to spend their time doing things at home. It didn’t help that they were already isolated by the location of their home, across a bridge and isolated from the rest of the town.

After sitting and thinking for a while, Link left her alone at the house and headed into the village to get a few ingredients that they’d need from the general store. When he was handing the rupees to the shopkeeper, Neya walked into the store.

“Hiya, Link!” she called excitedly as she practically ran to him.

“Hey there, Neya,” he nodded to the shopkeeper and got a smile in response as he turned around to face her.

“I heard your dad’s out again. What’s he doing this time? Taking down a horde of Bokoblins? Fighting a Lynel?” her hands were flying wildly as they walked out of the store, her excitement at the prospect of monsters very evident.

“Nope, just routine surveillance,” Link replied nonchalantly while they walked next to each other to the center of the village, where they sat down next to the sign.

“Aw, that’s too bad. I wish my dad was as cool as yours though. One of the King’s royal guards, fighting off enemies constantly.” She seemed a little bit disappointed by his assignment, but quickly replaced that with envy of his father’s career.

He laughed and replied, “I don’t know, being the chief of Hateno is pretty cool too. I think I’d trade for your dad any day.”

She rolled her eyes at him and gave him an annoyed look, but her playfulness in it was pretty obvious. “Yeah, but your dad gets to teach you all kinds of cool things with swords and bows and spears and other stuff like that!”

 _At least your dad will always come home_ , he thought kind of sarcastically, but quickly replied with, “I guess. But you get lots of attention from the royal family.”

“So do you, silly! Anyways though, how’s your training been coming. Has your dad given you a real sword yet?”

He shook his head and looked down at the ground, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. She muttered a small, “Oh,” and looked down too, the silence quickly becoming awkward. She tried to talk a couple more times, but nothing really came out as she tried to change the subject to something a little bit less touchy.

He stood and waved to her, saying, “I’ll see ya later, Neya.”

“Bye, Link!” she stood and waved too, disappointed that she had yet again ruined a conversation with her favorite person in the world. She was a little bit dejected as he walked away, but wasn’t gonna let Link have the satisfaction of knowing that she was fawning over him. Unfortunately for her, he already knew.

* * *

“Hey, Link?”

“Yeah, Aryll?” Link was laying down in the center of the living room. His father should’ve been back yesterday, but his missions often ran long.

“When do you think Dad will be back?” Link pondered the question for a moment, a few different possibilities running through his mind but none of them really making too much sense.

“I don’t know, his work with the guard often goes longer than it should.” Despite this, Link thought, _Surveillance shouldn’t be going long, especially if it’s a routine route. I wonder if that’s not actually what he’s doing?_

“Yeah, but it said it was just surveillance. What’s ‘surveillance’ anyways, Link?” she was staring at him, an interested look covering her face.

“Surveillance is checking for any bad things on a path. It’s not too big of a deal.”

She muttered a soft, “Oh,” and went back to reading her book. He looked over at the cover to see that it was one on the theory of different weapons, one that he had read about a year ago. _Funny that she’s taking interest in that, though. Usually she likes reading fantasy tales and the like. Maybe she’s read all of the fantasies that we have?_ Link sat up and looked out the window. _I need to go get some fresh air_.

“I’ll be back, Aryll. I’m just gonna do a little bit of practice and go into the village for a while.” He stood and started toward the door, receiving a slight nod in response to his statement.

As soon as he had closed the door, he leaned on it and released a small breath, his worry for his father finally starting to get the better of him. _He had never lied about what he was going to do before, had he?_

After a minute of rest, Link picked up his trainer and went over to the practice dummy. After going through some of the motions that he knew, he decided to try a few that he’d seen his father do when he practiced at the house. Link knew that his father thought he didn’t watch when he practiced late at night, but he almost always did just to see what movements his father wasn’t teaching him.

He backflipped and sprung in, but time felt like it was going a little bit slower, like when he sidestepped. He took this to his advantage and thrust the blade at the dummy, but the power behind it punched a hole through it, and he sunk the trainer to the hilt.

 _What in Hylia was that? How did I get that much power behind it without trying?_ He was confused, but retracted the sword and looked at the fresh hole, one that went straight through the dummy.

He decided to not do that one again, lest his father get angry that he’d destroyed their only dummy and would have to go into castle town to get one. _If he comes back_ , he thought subconsciously. _What is wrong with me?_ He was screaming internally as it seemed that another voice had begun to speak inside of him, one that wasn’t his own. He was fighting with a strength that he’d never had, and even his normal drills seemed to slice deep into the dummy’s side.

 _That’s enough for now_ , and he packed up the blade, putting a new shirt onto the dummy in hopes that his father wouldn’t notice the holes and deep marks that he’d put into it.

Unfortunately, though he didn’t know it yet, his father wouldn’t be coming home.

* * *

He woke up and felt a little bit more normal again, it seemed that whatever had been influencing him the day before had gone away. He found that his father still wasn’t back yet, and the fourth day of a surveillance mission was beginning to make him nervous. Almost to confirm his suspicions, there was a knock at the door.

He shuffled over and cracked it open to see who it was, only to find a woman that he didn’t recognize, but looked familiar.

“Are you… Link?” she looked at him nervously, and shuffled her feet below her as if worried about something.

“Yeah. May I ask who you are?” He left the door cracked and peered through the slight opening at her, trying to keep his face as unresponsive as possible.

“I’m…” she seemed to be embarrassed, but about what he wasn’t sure. “I’m your mother, Link. I’ve come to take you and Aryll.”

“What?!” He practically exclaimed as he subconsciously pulled the door open, to get a better look at her. “What do you mean you’ve come to take me and Aryll?!”

Aryll was now peeking out of her door at her brother yelling at a strange woman that she didn’t recognize. _How could this woman be my mother? And why is she here now, of all times?_ Link’s mind was moving faster than he could comprehend, and he found that he felt fear toward this woman, sealed in the deep recesses of his mind.

“Link… Your father is dead. Soldiers came to my door and said that with his last breath he asked that I would take the kids into my care.” Link was incredulous! How could any of that be true, it had only been 4 days since his father had departed. He had promised to take care of them! He had promised not to die!

Aryll shuffled out and asked quietly, “So dad is… gone?” The woman only nodded, and Aryll, broke down sobbing on the floor. She tried to speak, but only incoherent phrases managed to escape her.

The woman crossed past a now frozen Link and held the girl, comforting her as only a mother seemed to be able to. Link turned, his mind still running through millions of possibilities, but he found that he could only believe her, that he trusted this person from his memories. She was his mother.

“Why… why after all this time, did he ask you?” Link’s voice was barely above a whisper, and he was fighting back the tears that he knew were threatening to appear.

“Link… I know this is hard for you, but… we still saw each other. Whenever he went out to the castle, he’d take assignments in Tabantha just so that he could see me. I only left because I was afraid of getting too close to him, and having him die. I should’ve taken you both with me…” now she was on the verge of tears too, in the common area of his small home.

Link attempted to speak, but his voice broke. He simply stood at the door, dumbfounded at the scene unfolding in his home. The tears finally broke free, but he simply turned around, grabbing his father’s sword, which was propped up outside, and running away. He dared not look back.

“Link!” His mother ran out after him, but he turned to the left and ran into the woods, where he knew he wouldn’t be found. Now, it was only him, his father’s royal guard’s sword, and the wilderness.

Link was crying, terrified, but most of all was afraid of the voice struggling to overcome him from inside. He knew that if he let it speak to him, he would lose control.


End file.
